A Hunt for Fact in the Bush

One way researchers can gain absolute confidence from the people they are studying is by participating in their activities, customs and rituals. The benefit is as rewarding as the book he writes about them.
On one quiet Thursday late afternoon, two dogs marches behind Bada, an experienced hunter. He expertly holds a spear and a cutlass and is dressed in a manner that he could be mistaken for a “madman” in tattered clothes. This was the hunting regalia in this village. So let me establish the fact. He is just as mentally well as you. He passes by and exchanges greetings with me and my friends. I knew he was on a mission to hunt for a game.

Having heard about how difficult hunting might be especially running after bush rats and grasscutters through thorns and sticks; digging up squirrel holes and sometimes unknowingly waking up snakes from their slumber; I knew this was a mind game more than it was for a physical exercise. The fear factor!

I quickly ordered a cutlass for protection and changed into the right regalia to protect my relatively “delicate city skin” from the brutality of the thorns in the bush. I buckled up from neck to feet just like a hunter but this time not tattered in clothes as you may be tempted to compare mine to the regular village hunters.

The march to the bush starts. Two men two dogs on a single mission-to find some meat for the pot. All of a sudden, several community people stood from a distance, awed and amazed at who they were seeing in the hunter’s suit, mumbled amongst themselves. “Sir is going to the bush!” shouts one school child. “Sir, what are you going to kill”, asks another. “The biggest grasscutter”, I answered with a high level of assurance. The rest murmuring in the language I was at the basic stage of learning- the Ewe dialect. I quickly gathered they were simply shocked at the sight they had fixed their eyes on.

Some hundreds of meters away lay the bush, part of it in flames. I asked Bada, “who burns the bush all the time?” even though the answer was so glaringly obvious. “The hunters”, he answered. We entered the part where the fire had not reached and I tell you, I felt the heat 200 meters away. The cutlass became handy as I carefully cut through the thorns and weeds to prevent my “delicate” skin from the teeth of the thorns. My partner with a wealth of experience, passed through with ease.

At a point he stood still and fixed his eyes on a particular direction. I hastily asked, have you seen a grasscutter? No, he replied as he explains he had heard some other hunters’ voice from afar. Pointing to that same direction he directed, “let’s go this way”.

Apparently, there were more than 20 hunters including children digging up squirrel burrows. Dogs too had an impressive register numbering over 20. Abotere, Gameli, Nutifafa!, shouts one hunter as he whistles intermittently. Three dogs dashes helter-skelter from nowhere as the hunter calls for them to attack. But there was nothing to catch.


Indiscriminate Bush Burning
My participation in the hunt revealed firsthand what hunters do- burn bush for bush meat. It may be an effective strategy for them to get bush meat but the consequences can be dreadful. One hunter gathers some dry leaves and lights a match. After a few minutes, large portions of the bush were in flames as the hunters reposition themselves to lay ambush for any hare, squirrel or grasscutter.

Some farmers had heard that a bush-burning activity was getting close to their farm so they quickly came to their farms rescue. One farmer is seen quenching the fire with a tree branch. The fire was spreading into his yam farm. It was effective and a livelihood was saved.

Another farmer queried; “Who set the fire?” I was alone with a colleague teacher who is a native of the land whom I met in the bush on the same mission. He explained in Ewe that we are just witnesses to the bush burning activity. Another farmer stands helplessly as he looks at the fire spreading towards his farm. Luckily, the fire did not do any harm.

According to sources, the community has ever been gutted by fire that spread from the burning bush into the community which has mostly thatched houses. The consequences were grieving. It took months for the village to rebuild itself. But why should hunters continue to use bush burning as a technique to hunt for game?

The Game
Have you heard people say hunting is a game? If you answered “no” then this is what you must know- at least that which pertains to hunting here in Have Ando No. 1 community in the Volta Region. Hunting is a gamble, simply unfair and selfish. The rule is that the person who finally catches the game is the winner. This is what it means. You may dig up a squirrel burrow and chase it out. If another hunter slams it and kills it, the game is his and he is not obliged to give you a share. Yet more annoying is when you spot a game, chase it with your spear or cutlass or club and a dog comes to capture it, then the game belongs to the owner of the dog and again, the hunter is not obliged to give you a share. So you may be chasing a grasscutter for hours and some other dog may use a few seconds to catch it and if the dog isn’t yours then the result is energy wasted, time wasted and a huge disappointment hanging on your face. It’s simply, wasteful synergy.


Omanye! Promoting possibilities